Elderly woman standing in living room, Wester Hailes

Category

Library Item

Item no

19871

Title

Elderly woman standing in living room, Wester Hailes

Description

A full length portrait of an elderly woman standing in the living room of a home. She is wearing slippers and leans on a wooden walking stick. There is soft seating with a matching floral pattern on either side of her. Against the wall at the back of the room are units of shelving containing various items including picture frames, ornaments and a telephone. The door to the room is wide open and it is possible to see beyond the hallway and into the kitchen.

Artist / maker

Walsh, Kevin

Date

1992

Size

16.7 x 24.9 cm

Type

Photograph

Wester Hailes, located on the western periphery of Edinburgh, is a post-war housing estate constructed between 1969 and 1975. On completion, the housing stock comprised a mixture of tenements and high rise. Wester Hailes possessed a declining population with a high proportion of single parent and low income households, high unemployment and a high turnover of tenancies. It was one of four peripheral housing estates chosen to take part in the New Life for Urban Scotland Initiative in 1988. The initiative and the partnerships that they generated were expected to provide valuable lessons on how to tackle the social, economic and environmental problems of large urban distressed areas. The area was extensively redeveloped during the 1990s and 2000s with a number of initiatives outlined by the Wester Hailes Partnership. These initiatives covered housing and environmental improvement, the improvement of social facilities, the provision of training opportunities and the promotion of community activities and involvement. Housing and environmental improvements have had a visible impact with a large number of properties being renovated and others being demolished and replaced with newer 'low-rise' housing.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Doors and doorways

Clothing and dress > Accessories > Walking sticks

Furnishings > Furniture > Seating furniture

Homes > Residential buildings > Houses

People > Adults > Women

Places > Edinburgh areas > Wester Hailes